Willie D & The Hip Pockets

A life of music with roots deep in Liberty, Texas, is on full display in the new album Rock, Rhythm & Jazz from Willie D & The Hip Pockets.

Willie D is known in these parts as Will Daniel, Jr., a native of Liberty with family ties that go way back; he is the grandson of the late Gov. Bill and Vera Faye Daniel.

Daniel made the conversion to Willie D. after he found that folks in his travels and time in Austin were apt to label him by the moniker, and after a while, it just stuck.

But it’s perhaps his ties to several local musical influences that have truly made him the musician that has become Willie D.

One of his most fond musical attachments comes from his grandmother, who was by all accounts quite the talented pianist herself.

“I think a lot of my musical influence came from my grandma,” he said.

Daniel also remembers the day he first picked up the saxophone; in fact, he remembers it to the day, Sept. 9, 1999 — 9-9-99 — easy enough to remember.

That was the day Allison Hardy, a longtime Liberty music educator, introduced Daniel to the instrument that would change his life.

Daniel spoke of his earliest musical memories of playing in the old Liberty junior high auditorium, now San Jacinto Elementary.

“I learned there with Ms. Hardy and Tom Guidry, Charles Horton, and I got a lot of my early musical education there,” Daniel said.

Daniel also gained quite a bit of experience growing up and playing with several local community bands, like The Invincible Eagle Community Band, where he got to know folks like Jim Sterling.

“We played every function you could imagine in Liberty, Texas; we were there playing music, so a lot of my early musical education was in Liberty,” Daniel said.

That experience greatly impacted him and his music, influencing his style and interests.

“The folks in the community bands and I got to know several of the old-timers, and I treasure that. It’s an invaluable time in my life of learning about music,” Daniel said.

His musical career began to find some focus back in 2017 when he was invited to play the Liberty Rotary Luncheon by his late stepfather Charles Grabein.

“He was a man about town,” he said about Grabein, “He taught me a lot about music.”

Daniel discussed one of the songs he played while he was there, “Cell Phone Blues,” a ditty about how everyone these days just seems to be entrenched in their phones.

He said the local Rotarians got such a kick out of the song that they encouraged him to record the tune.

Eventually, his mom, Ann Raley Daniel, and his stepdad kept on him to record it, and shortly after the passing of Grabein, he decided to start his own band back in Austin and did just that.

“Well, doing that turned into this whole album four years later,” he said.

He began recording in 2019 and was finally able to release the album in February of this year.

The album features ten songs, eight original and two covers; he calls the album his letter of intent or declaration as it represents his vast musical influences and thoughts. It offers listeners a variety of sounds that range from up-tempo to dance and something relaxing.

It, of course, includes “Cell Phone Blues,” along with a cover of “The Crawdad Song,” a tribute to his stepdad. It is a spin on the original where he takes it from its bluegrass roots to something a bit jazzier.

Another song on the album he is excited about is a whimsical tune about an elephant doing the twist before running amuck, called “The Menutis Twist.”

The song pays tribute to the late Jimmy Menutis and his wife, Ruth Ann.

According to Daniel, the Menutis’ had a special bond with his late father, William Daniel, Sr.; the couple even employed his father at the famed Houston Jimmy Menutis Nightclub on Telephone Road.

The club was quite the musical venue, with names like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and Chubby Checker playing shows there over the years.

Daniel would eventually find the couple and forge a relationship of his own that brought him closer to his father long after he had passed and genuinely connected the pair to his musical calling.

The song pays homage to that relationship he shared with his father and the couple and the musical influence he gained.

Daniel, who is hoping to make some local appearances in the future, has also started his own record label, BlueVada Records, and is working on both a country and jazz album and helping other musicians.

Whether you know him as Will Daniel or Willie D, you’ll want to keep this album in your hip pocket for fun upbeat rock, rhythm, jazz, and a little country to boot.

You can purchase Willie D and the Hip Pockets’ new album online at https://www.dreamlandmusic. org/musicshop.